


let my love open the door

by cinderlily



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Curtain Fic, Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 12:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8285653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderlily/pseuds/cinderlily
Summary: Connor buys a house, then he tells Tobi. In that order. AKA, Gratuitous Connor Murphy is stupid and in love with Tobias Rieder fic. (TWO MORE YEARS <3)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [optimusfine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/optimusfine/gifts).



Connor knew just how stupid he was being, basically shaking in his shoes as he signed the paperwork. Despite appearances he was an adult, an adult who was making a sufficient amount of money that he was not doing anything stupid by buying a house. In fact, he was being responsible enough that his grandmother had called to tell him so, tutting and saying that she was so proud of her boy. He expected a quilt within the month and he was pretty psyched about it. 

There was just a lot, in the grand scheme of things, that was pretty scary. Seeing the amount of money he was paying was a shock to his system. Yes, he’d _heard_ the price a few times but hearing the price was one thing, signing over the amount was a little out of his depth. 

The keys were old and worn and on a keyring that had a faded keychain that read ‘be it ever so humble’. He knew he would catch crap about it, but that thing wasn’t coming off until it fell off. He rubbed at the first key and then the second and the whole reality of it hit him rather hard. 

His very understanding real estate agent shook his hand and walked him out of the office, congratulating him on his house. Connor made it all the way to the car before freaking out a little, but normal level of freak out he thought, for someone who just bought his first freaking house. 

At least there weren’t tears. Yet. 

When he caught his breath he picked his phone up and texted Tobi just the address to the house and nothing else. 

He got a series of question marks and he sent back the address, again, and ‘ _Map it, jerk. See you in 15._ ’ 

The ‘ _Yes, sir_ ’ was typical and Tobi and comforting and just that touch of hot that he was pretty used to by now. He turned his car on and drove as fast as he thought he could get away with, as he really needed to be the first one there. 

He parked in the garage, _his garage_ and let the door close. The house was incredibly empty, having not been lived in in months and months, but it was his empty space and he knew it would be full soon enough. He didn’t really get a chance to do a walk through by himself, though, because by the time he got his shoes off and to the front hallway the bell was ringing. 

Padding across the carpet he felt even more anxious than he had before, which he didn’t think possible. He hesitated at the door but the doorbell rang again. 

_Damnit Tobias,_ he thought. _Patience is a freaking virtue._

He braced himself and then opened the door. Tobi was there, sunglasses on, scruffy as fuck and in one of Connor’s damn shirts that was too tight on him. He looked noticeably confused as he picked his glasses off and settled them on his head. 

“Did you break into someone’s house?” he teased. “I can’t have a breaking and entering on my permanent record.” 

Connor shook his head. “I’d let you off easy.” 

“What?” 

“Well, as the owner of this house I won’t press charges” he said, looking down at Tobi’s shoes before he looked back up. 

Tobi had a face he made sometimes, even after all these years, that was pretty clearly his ‘Is this a piece of English I don’t understand?’ Connor found it to be, for lack of a better word, endearing. His face was frozen in the look and Connor dug in his pockets to find the keys. 

“Willkommen,” he said. He knew Tobi was stunned when he didn’t instantly go to correct his (admittedly horrible) pronunciation and instead just stood there. 

“You bought a house?” Tobi asked, seemingly catching up but not quite there. 

“Yeah,” Connor’s face broke out into a grin, turning into the house and throwing over his shoulder. “Come on. Take off your shoes.” 

He waited a minute, cause he was freaking polite, and then turned back because how long does it take to take off shoes, seriously. Tobi was in the middle of his second shoe, throwing it on a patch of floor beside the front door. Connor pointed at the first room they were in. 

“I think this is supposed to be the formal whatever but formal is boring so I think this’ll be the bar type area. Definitely at LEAST some bomb leather couches and a liquor cabinet. Maybe a tiny table for like nicer dinners or some shit but whatever.” 

He pulled Tobi along as he moved. “You gotta check out the kitchen. Fucking HUGE but not scary huge. And the fridge is PART OF THE CABINETS.” 

And there it went, through each room slowly but surely. After a lot of thought he hadn’t ended up buying more than he could handle, had actually gone out of his way to turn down a few houses out of hand that were recommended to him as a ‘sports player’. He was one person, he was hoping it would be two people but some of the houses seemed stupid for five people and that was a future he was thinking would be way out if ever. 

There were four bedrooms, his one concession to real gluttony because he liked that his family and friends could visit and feel welcome AND he could have like an awesome study that wasn’t in his room. The master was at the very back of the house, with double doors that lead to the backyard patio. 

“So, coolest things about the bedroom, besides you know… that it’s huge and comfy and whatever… There are two walk in closets. This one I think will be mine, unless you want it. I just like that there is space in the back that I can put my kicks. Debatable. And the patio leads to the pool so you can have morning swims if you want…” 

For the first time since he walked in Tobi spoke up. 

“Wait.” 

Connor turned to look at him. He’d been a little fired up by the whole epicness of the moment that he hadn’t really looked at Tobi, but looking now he saw the look of confusion that was still there and maybe a tinge of … something else? Hurt? But it was soft and kind of fleeting. 

“What?” 

“Two closets?” 

Connor rolled his eyes. “Fucking duh, like I’m sharing my space with you. I’d get like a tenth of the closet. Maybe less.” 

“That is _my_ closet?” Tobi pointed, peeking around Connor to look at the closed door to the second closet. 

“Well, we can talk about it,” Connor looked at the door to the closet, thinking about opening it to show off that it wasn’t tiny or something. “I mean, compromises or whatever. But yeah, I like this closet. The other one is cedar lined. I’m not sure why the fuck that matters but apparently it’s a big deal. Doug, my agent, was fucking obsessed with it.” 

He turned his head to feel lips meet his, two hands on his neck. He inhaled suddenly and his eyes rolled a bit. Tobi was kind of an intense kisser and due to the World Cup they hadn’t had a lot of chances to just kiss in a while. 

Tobi pulled back and looked at him. “You bought me a house?” 

Connor blushed. Okay, putting it that way it was a little crazy. “I bought a house with you in mind?” 

… Nope. Didn’t sound better. 

“Why didn’t you tell me before today?”

His mind reeled a little bit. He hadn’t let himself think about it actively but he’d had his reasons. He just wasn’t really eager to tell Tobi why, but Tobi usually could get his way if he wanted to so Connor just caved early. 

“You hadn’t signed… it would have just been mine if you weren’t… here. I mean, it would have been yours too but I didn’t want to pressure you by buying a _house_ …” 

Lips were on his again, shutting him up.

By the time they broke apart again Connor was feeling pretty damned pleased with himself. He’d put the keys back into his pocket but reached to take them out again, fiddling with them a bit until he wrestled one free and offering the warmed up metal to Tobi on his palm. 

“This is yours,” he said, more awkwardly than he would’ve liked. Tobi grabbed it and his smile widened. “Want to see your closet?” 

“I thought it was up for debate?” 

“Come on, it’s got _cedar lining_ ,” Connor said, in the same tone that the realtor had said it. 

Tobi cocked his head. “You don’t even know what that means.” 

“It means it’s fancy, dude, deal with it.” 

Tobi looked around the room and seemed to consider the space. “Where do you want to put the bed?” 

Connor boggled. That was like number 200 on his list right now. He had to BUY a bed in the first place. The double he and Tobi shared at the house was not cutting it. And pack. And find movers. But Tobi really looked like he cared about this so Connor looked at the room for a second. 

It had high ceilings, and light that streamed in from high windows. He wasn’t the best at placement or anything but he figured he best idea was to avoid sun hitting his eyes at six in the morning on the days he was allowed to sleep in. There was a nook on one wall, slightly inset that probably could fit a king sized bed. He thought they could even paint the inset a darker color to make it pop… and possibly he needed to stop watching HGTV with his mom when he’s home. 

He walked over to the space and said decisively. “Here. I’m thinking we’ll upgrade. King sized all the way.” 

Tobi looked at him and then the space, smiled and nodded. He slowly walked towards Connor and sat down on the floor beside where he stood. “That makes sense.” 

When Tobi patted his hand asking Connor to sit next to him he complied easily. Connor looked around the room and imagined things the way they could be. He knew Tobi’s style well enough to see there was going to be a bit of a battle in parts but he knew it would come out looking awesome and most importantly it would be _their’s_. 

Tobi startled him by moving to straddle his legs, leaning in and kissing him soft and sweet. He let it go on, slow and steady for long minutes. It had been a long time between them just getting a chance to relax and enjoy their time together. He slipped his hand up the back of Tobi’s shirt and Tobi pushed him gently back and down on to the ground. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Making this ours,” Tobi smirked. 

That was the last thing said for awhile.

The carpet burn was totally worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to wait to post this till tomorrow for opening night fic but I am impatient and I love optimusfine and she seems to need a pick me up. 
> 
> Love you, boo. <3 
> 
> Title from Pete Townshend, "Let My Love Open the Door"
> 
> (PS, for anyone wondering Ceder Lining is good to keep out moths. But when we bought our house T and I were REALLY confused at how FREAKING PSYCHED our realtor was about our closet having it. Like, she talked about it for half the damn tour.)


End file.
